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Who is the best on line dealer?

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Boomhauer54

Member
Dec 11, 2017
3
2
Arizona
Hope this is the right place to post this-if not please move it-new guy here. Just want to start by saying hello everyone,it's me! You know, the new guy. Kind of new to the air gun game also, oh I mean I had Daisies and Crossmans as a kid but started getting into air guns about a year ago. I have to say my grandson and I enjoy the heck out of air guns, you can just whip 'em out in the back yard and plink away. To me there's no better way to recycle a beer can than to fill them full of .177 BB's and pellets. No FFL background check, no CCW necessary, no gun range a-holes, don't have to worry about the newest gun control measures, etc. We still shoot our other firearms (I hope I haven't pissed anybody off yet, I know these are not toys. Would NOT want to get shot by any of my air guns) but this is fun stuff. Now the question I'm finally asking is this-who is the best on line dealer? I've purchased a few locally and a few from PyramidAir. Guess I've been fortunate, no problems with anything I've bought yet. Well I received an email ad from Airgun Depot and saw a deal on a Schofield No.3 that I got a sudden interest in. Pretty gun. And a good price w/ free shipping. Having never dealt with them so I looked at some reviews and was a little surprised to see a lot of very negative reviews. I don't know how they stay in business. So I thought I might check out some PyramidAir reviews to see what the average citizen thinks about them. Turns out a lot of people have a lot of problems with them. Now as I said I've only dealt with them a couple of times and I've had no problems, course the guns worked just fine and I didn't have to send anything back but do I want to keep dealing with them? Seems customer service is the issue with both companies. Is this just a case of a few disgruntled customers who always seem to have problems or are these companies that bad? If this is the latter, who do you guys like as on line dealers? Didn't mean for this to be this long a read but it did.
 
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PA is likely the oldest "online" ( and in print before that) airgun dealer and well respected. Never heard of a legitimate issue with them, yes things get back ordered but they do tell you that and if you want to order today what is not in stock then don't be unhappy when the date changes. 
One might think AG is a spin off oif PA ( heck I dont know).
I do know PA will do what they say.

John
 
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Guess I could chime in too. I bought stuff from PyramidAir directly before but little things like pellets. I also bought a Beeman r9 from PA but from their EBay store. For big purchases like air rifles I go to Amazon or Ebay (of course depending on what kind) since you get very good customer protection and return policies with those sites. I bought a FX Royale from Airgun Depot directly and am very satisfied with my purchase because everything worked out well. But with these sites you run into trouble when you have to fix something or do a return. They will rip you off. All their return policies say that they will charge you 20-30% restocking fee and you are responsible to pay shipping. Airgunsofarizona.com return policy is especially crazy. But if the product is bad or they messed up your order they should be liable for the costs associated with that. The next purchase I’m planning to make is from Airgunsofarizona (they are the only ones that have FX Wildcat in .177) but I’m a little weary since I read their return policy. I later had to do some warranty work on my FX Royale so I called Airgunsofarizona (they are a dealer and warranty provider) and they were going to charge me for shipping to and from their facility. I was dumbfounded by this since everything should be covered by the warranty. They said it was their policy, but why??? You’re a warranty provider and it is all covered by FX. So I called FX directly and got my repair done completely free of charge. They paid for shipping and everything:)) Moral of the story is that you should always read company’s return policies and call them and ask questions. As for me, I buy general air gun stuff from eBay or amazon. Thanks!
 
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"Boomhauer54" Is this just a case of a few disgruntled customers who always seem to have problems or are these companies that bad? If this is the latter, who do you guys like as on line dealers? Didn't mean for this to be this long a read but it did.
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I think that the issue is 'problem customers', as I have always had a good experience with Pyramid Air. I don't use AD, as their shipping charges to Canada are too high. So, in my experience, shop with confidence at Pyramid Air.
 
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I remember years ago when the first discount department stores opened up the distributors where henpecked by their smaller retail customers that they were being undersold. They came out with fair price trading where they told stores the minimum they could charge and if violated they would be cut off. NY made that against the law. And all the stores were forced to work on a lower margin since there were more stores than needed as shipping and delivery improvements made the need for an appliance store in every town unnecessary if the gun stores could be competitive we would all pay less and be able to buy more. In general that scope you paid $500 for cost the store $250. In a competitive market you would pay $400 leaving I nice profit of $150 to the vendor. The inefficient vendors would go out of business and the strong one would pick up the slack and overal do better. MAP pricing is a license to overcharge and legally it’s price fixing along with collusion IMHO. There is no true competition between any of the vendors especially on the higher priced items. If I go to 5 car dealers to look at the same model car I’ll get 5 different prices if I go to buy a FX rifle they are all the same price. If the stores could compete you would have better support and service from them in order for them to differentiate themselves from the competition. 
 
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Some info I've gathered regarding some of the online retailers mentioned in this post. This is in no way an attempt to bash any company or put them on a pedestal. Just info that I gathered from the internet that is available to the general public. Companies are in alphabetical order. 

Airguns of Arizona 
Gilbert, AZ
Founded: 1996
Google Reviews: 4.0 stars - 133 reviews
ResellerRatings Score: 8.32/10 from 27 reviews
Yelp: 4/5 stars - 17 reviews

Airgun Depot
Draper, UT
Founded: 2002
Google Reviews: 2.5 stars - 8 reviews
ResellerRatings Score: 2.03/10 from 28 reviews
Yelp: None

Baker Airguns
Mt. Victory, OH
Founded: 2005 as Airgun Repair Company 
Google Reviews: 5.0 stars - 5 reviews
ResellerRatings Score: None
Yelp: 5/5 stars - 2 reviews

Midway USA
Columbia, MO
Founded: 1977
Google Reviews: None
ResellerRatings Score: 2.3/10 from 149 reviews
Yelp: 2.5/5 stars - 60 reviews

Pyramyd Air
Solon, OH
Founded: 1996
Google Reviews: None...which is strange considering the amount of ResellerRatings.com reviews
ResellerRatings Score: 2.06/10 from 129 reviews
Yelp: 3/5 stars - 7 reviews

The Sportsman's Guide
St. Paul, MN
Founded: 1970
Google Reviews: None...again weird considering their size
ResellerRatings Score: 1.4/10 from 299 reviews
Yelp: Different ratings for different locations

Straight Shooters Precision Airguns
Bella Vista, AR
Founded: 1997
Google Reviews: None
ResellerRatings Score: None
Yelp: None

Utah Airguns
Mapleton, UT
Founded: 2016 
Google Reviews: 5.0 stars - 13 reviews
ResellerRatings Score: None yet...probably too new of a company
Yelp: None

I did a bit of research regarding as to why some companies don't have any Google reviews when it seems they should regarding their size, age and/or numerous reviews on other sites such as Yelp, ResellerRatings.com and so on. Unfortunately, I could not find any useful information. 
 
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I’ve done business with all above except Baker and Straight Shooter. No major problem with any of them not even a minor problem I would use them all again since most of them charge the same price I’m going to be looking for resellers that offer better customer support. One not on you list whose customer support has been the best is Edgunwest he at least seems to care about the customer some of the others it’s just a job, with an attitude of what’s the least I can do and not get fired. There is one unnamed dealer who only wants to talk on the phone and he’s like a used care dealer but I can tell when he lies, I hear him.
 
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